Soquel School District Set to Hire New Teachers

will be hiring a projected eight teachers for the coming school year, the district's superintendent, said.

The decision to hire new teachers is a result from the district's board meeting last week, where trustees voted to reinstate class-size reductions for kindergarten through second grade.

The decision will reduce kindergarten, first and second grade class sizes from over 30 students to 22 students per teacher, following the idea that students thrive with more one-on-one teacher support.

“Trustees say it's clear to everyone that having fewer students in each classroom is especially important for earlier grades. It gets them off to a good start,” said Janet Lindenbaum, administrative assistant to the district's superintendent.

The decision to decrease the student-to-teacher ratio also means that the district's able to afford full-day kindergarten classes, and bid farewell to the former class model of kindergartners attending school half of the day.

Interestingly, last week's vote also overturned a previous decision, voted on in May, to increase class sizes. A decision that Castaniada said was appropriate at the time because of looming uncertainties in funding for education, which weren't cleared up until the state budget was released in June.

Class size reductions may be safe this fall, but Castaniada said they'll be reevaluated around November to accommodate potential mid-year cuts to education, which could occur if anticipated funding isn't secured.

“We will essentially put all the options on the table and look at options where revenue can be generated and areas where we can be more cost effective,” Castaniada said.

Among the eight new hires the district plans to secure, six will go to and schools, with the hiring of all new teachers expected to take place by the end of the week.

Stay tuned for profiles of the district's new teachers, coming soon.